Gaza Threatened With Eradication: A City on the Brink of Chaos

Gaza, my beloved city, trembles under the weight of an imminent invasion.

Bombings have already destroyed entire neighbourhoods, and evacuation orders are spreading like a shadow over our homes.

Forced expulsion is about to become a reality. We know with certainty that we will never see our homes again.

Every street, every house, every memory is under threat.

Residents wait with heavy hearts and minds, fear settling in every gaze. Across Gaza, residents live in constant anxiety, trying to maintain a semblance of normality amid the chaos.

The cycle of displacement

Displacement is a never-ending cycle, taking people from their homes to tents, and from tents to the unknown.

Should I flee or stay? Where should I flee to? How can I survive? No one has the answers.

I told my father that I didn’t want to go back to a tent. My tears fell uncontrollably. He looked at me, helpless, and whispered, “We have no choice.”

We headed south to the al-Zawayda region after being displaced by shelling from my uncle’s house.

Simple, desperate gestures

Survival seems impossible. The sounds of explosions from bombing drones terrify us. Eighty per cent of the city has disappeared.

And this time, it won’t just be punishment: it will be the erasure of everything we have ever known.

Our last moments in the city are spent on simple, desperate gestures: sharing a final meal, walking the streets we have known all our lives, taking photos of the places that have watched us grow up. Every memory becomes precious, fragile, threatened with disappearing forever.

However, the residents of Gaza continue to live. Even in the worst of times, there are snapshots of life, forced smiles, and moments of hope.

Today, August 28, my brother got married, and despite the weight of pain that surrounds us, this wedding is a burst of joy, a reminder that life persists and that there is always room for happiness.

But this hope is fragile, coexisting with the fear of bombs, death, and loss that cannot be compensated for.

Our muffled voices

The occupation of Gaza has already begun. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed last week, and evacuation orders are multiplying.

As of September 3, 2025, reports indicate that more than 796,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced since the collapse of the ceasefire on March 18, 2025, and this number is likely to increase if the occupation launches a new military operation in Gaza City.

I think what Israel will do to us in the south is gather us into a detention camp, where we will be cut off from the world, and our voices will be silenced as if we were in a prison where no one can hear us.

Gaza is suffocating under the silence of the world. How long will you leave its cries unanswered, when there is almost nothing left to save it? Raise your voice before the last glimmers of hope are extinguished forever.

Don’t forget me, Sarah Emad, a Palestinian girl whose greatest dream is to finish her studies abroad.

Don’t forget my city, drowned in love and war.